Thiruvananthapuram : Moving swiftly after the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) decided to make Kerala liquor-free, the government has initiated steps to shut down 312 bars currently functioning in the state immediately and 39 retail outlets from October 2, 2014.
Several decisions related to the policy even before cabinet approval were taken at a high-level meeting of officials of Excise, Law and Taxes departments convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. He told the reporters after the meeting that the decisions will be placed before the next cabinet meeting on August 27 for ratification.
The UDF had decided to implement the key provisions of the policy from the next financial year. However, the Friday’s meeting which was also attended by Excise Minister K Babu decided to implement most of them as early possible.
Chandy said that the government had decided to shut down the 312 bars before the next renewal date as there were no legal issues in cancelling the license. He said the government can cancel them by paying the licence fee for the remaining period as the licenses were renewed on April 1, 2014 subject to revision in the liquor policy. The financial burden on this count is estimated at Rs 45 crore.
Chandy said the 39 outlets of Kerala Beverages Corporation and the Consumer fed were being shut down from October 2 as per the UDF decision to close down 10 per cent of the retail outlets every year. The meeting also decided to declare all Sundays from October 5 as dry days.
Chandy said that the government would also consider cancelling the licenses granted to various clubs to serve liquor to their members under the new policy. A decision in this regard will be taken by the cabinet while ratifying the liquor policy.
